Reviews for The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Story : 8 To be very frank, the story ( or more precise , the plot ) is not the best thing about this amazing masterpiece. If you know even a bit about both World Wars , you can certainly predict what major events will happen. That being said, following the story of Tanya, the author managed to make the dangerous , boring and often very fucked up life of a soldier exciting , or at the very least , interesting to see, which is an amazing achievement. It's even more interesting to see that the main character of this manga has a lot ofinteresting inner-thoughts and beliefs, plus , seeing things that had happened in the past unfold in front of us and we already knew what would happen, this showed quite a promising premiere that is done brilliantly . (That being said , the manga didn't include quite a lot of expositions from the LN , but the artist still cramped as much as he could , which is also an amazing achievement considering the original novel proves to be very detailed , thorough and comprehensive. ). If you are a history-buff like me, or are interested in warfare in general , this manga is a hidden gem among the saturated, quite honestly pure trash sea of poorly-made light novels . (Me also being very interested in the Axis Powers and wars that has happened in Europe alike in general also helped with coping with the sheer information this novel/manga has). Magic and religion is also playing a huge role in this manga , and the author has made very interesting things regarding those 2 subjects. (If i go any deeper, that would be spoilers but I do intend to keep these spoil-free).

Art : 10

BASED TOUJO CHIKA. This guy is freaking amazing . He has a highly-stylized that you can recognize from first glances , plus memorable facial expressions make his artstyle very noticeable , like a glittering gem at night. The gore-scenes , or fight-scenes in general, are done beautifully in a way that gives off an intense feeling of intimidation and daunt, while remaining extremely stylish and polished. I have nothing but praises for a talent like him.

Character : 10

Tanya (aka Best girl) : The main character stands out to me as exceedingly wonderful. She feels extremely humane and well, possible. It makes senses how her personalities would be forged into what they are now , considering her environment and circumstances. It feels like it could happen to anyone , given the right conditions , and that's frightening. It's frightening how she is so cold , calculating and selfish, yet remains likable, wise and (somewhat) kind to the people around her. The moral-ambiguous nature of her personalities are the products of what happened to her , and that's what makes her so great . War is hell, this manga shows it very well, it's reasonable that the main character, who faces life-and-death situations many times, would be an anti-hero , or at least not innocent. You either die with your moral in-tact , or try and survive with all you have. Tanya carefully controls her fate as a soldier through cunning planning, wisdom and experience of her past-life as a guidance through life. For me personally, the more I read about her , the more I think i know about her, the more less i actually know about her. It's amazing how real Tanya feels , and she's definitely one of my favourite fictional character ever.

Side-characters : There are varied of SCs here and there , and some of them, even with limited screentime, managed to grab my attention and become memorable while remain relevant to the story. It's quite amazing how I still remember about the non-commissioned officer who guarded Tanya's rifle and operation orb than I do about the main characters of most (dropped) light novels I've read, and he wasn't even that relevant to the story ! From the Brigadier , to the First Lieutenant when Tanya was transferred to the Western Front , every plot-relevant side-character have very unique yet realistic personalities that left you wondering if they are based off of real people. Once again , the author has outdone himself.

Enjoyment : 10 (Highly-subjective)

Like i mentioned before, if you are interested in history, especially 20th century European history, and 20th century warfare in general , this manga is the magnum opus of this era's LN , the Citizen Kane of LN and Manga. It takes on a more realistic, exposition-heavy style that not many LN does (or tries to do), and it's heartwarming to know that such a talented writer and artist decided to tackle this project and bring it to life. I'm very pleased with this manga as it turns out , coming from someone who read the novel and had an almost impossible expectation.

Overall : 10

The manga is marvelous, spectacular , and evidently the product of genius minds. Amazing writing , mindbogglingly beautiful art, a group of likable and memorable characters to compliment delightfully this masterpiece. I may sound pretentious now , but this series deserves nothing but praises. A must-read

Story: The story isn't overly amazing but its far from bad. The story is set in an alternate reality in World War 1, but it starts around 10 years after our own WW1 so instead of WW1 happening in the 1910's its in the 1920's. The weaponry and out fits are very WW1 looking with some changes, but the biggest changes is the use of magic. I'm not going into more detail because of spoilers but the first few chapters sum it up. Art: The art is pretty damn good, its not Berserk or Uzumaki in terms of art but diffidently good. Characters: Now the onlyreal character you'll like is the MC and maybe Viktoriya but its pretty much a hit or miss depending on if you like the MC. If you like the MC you'll enjoy this Manga but if you dislike the MC you'll dislike this Manga.

Enjoyment: Personally I love this Manga. I love the WW1 theme, art style, and of course the MC.

Fun fact its possible and not unrealistic for the MC to be in the war. They said in the manga the empire is gender equal when it comes to soldiers and in our own history children as young as 13! where soldiers in WW1!So having an 11 year old girl in an gender equal society fighting WW1 isn't that out there.

Do you miss "Fullmetal Alchemist"? If so, I recommend giving "Youjo Senki" a try. Why do I say this? Keep on reading. Both series' have a very similar vibe where the setting of the story is loosely based off history, and takes place during a time of devastating war. "Youjo Senki" and FMA share almost the same vibes due to the focus and the point of view that its told from; with "Youjo Senki" focusing even more on the events and the historical implication of those events, and FMA focusing more on the "magic". "Youjo Senki" is more like a documentary. "Youjo Senki" is also a isekaistory, but unlike alot of the ones that are coming out nowadays; it's much more enjoyable for a older audience. It has a lot of the classic isekai aspects like an OP MC winning all battles with information from the other world, or having some sort of attribute or ability granted to them for the purpose of making them special in their new world. In addition to being a well told serious story, the author finds appropriate places to inject some humor and it meshes nicely without disrupting the flow of the story.

Just like how FMA became a classic must read/watch, I think "Youjo Senki" will become one too, and I hope that you will give this series a read.

I enjoyed Youjo Senki's LN series, but the manga is just as good. What did the LN do really well in? It depicted a lot more of Tanya's monologuing which is lost in the manga, and there's also a lot more focus on Zettour, Rudersdorf, and a lot of different military personnel to really figure out why some military operation happened. However, honestly, other than the monologuing, I really did not care much for the worldbuilding. The manga focuses more on the details of battles, the characters close to Tanya, and dialogue. The manga essentially focuses on the good parts of the novel, while cuttingout the longwinded worldbuilding. All the criticism I had on the novel for having extremely lacking descriptions of many battles, whether it be the Rhine, Arene, Norden, etc, they're all fleshed out and actually are depicted in the manga. Visha, Grantz, Weiss, etc. All of the mages in 203 Flight augmented batallion get to shine a lot more brightly in the manga due to the focus on the battles, and even the slice of life content that's outside of the battles. In the end, the manga does choose to show different perspectives that were not shown in the LN, basically allowing us, the readers, to get a better understanding of the whole picture (good example is Erya).

Art looks great, at least character wise. Combat scenes are nice, but it's extremely obvious when real life photos are scanned in and heavily filtered to make it look like manga, and juxtaposing that background with more anime hand-drawn characters. It was really jarring to see anime/manga style soldiers fight real life looking planes placed under heavy filters to make it look like a drawing.

I did not like the Anime very much. Perhaps a 7, just because I like the source material. It rushes through all the events, completely just getting rid of any characterization or monologuing that Tanya had. The difference between the manga and anime is that the manga still explains and retains a lot of Tanya's original character while also fleshing out the side characters, details, and battles while the anime just flies through everything without giving enough explanation. The manga just explains the worldbuilding as little as it needs to and focuses on the juicy parts of the series, which is extremely smart. Overall, a good adaptation that deviates direction from the source material by a decent margin.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile] ▶Summary and recommendation: ----------------------------------------------------------------- ⚠ This manga contains Nazi adjacent imagery. The author appears to be what is known as a "Wehraboo". Someone who likes the aesthetic of the Wehrmacht. The German military in WW2. [Saga of Tanya the evil] is set in an alternate universe where Germany is not the aggressor. [Saga of Tanya the Evil] is a very unusual isekai. Summarizing it is difficult, but my attempt is as follows. 'Saga of Tanya the Evil is the story of an HR manager. A libertarian psychopath with a near religious faith in the FreeMarket Economy facing god, and as punishment for their hubris they are reborn as a child soldier in Alternate universe magical earth that is at the cusp of World War 2, and they are fighting for Germany.'

⚠ There is a single scene of partial nudity of the protagonist. It is not sexualized, but I think it warrants a small warning.

With a sm­all child as the protagonist, I went into this expecting the worst. Manga does not exactly have a good track record with children!

I do not know if the author wanted to showcase the horrors of war by making the protagonist a child soldier, or if they simply wanted the protagonist to look cute. Regardless of the reason, my worries were unfounded.

It is a manga with some flaws and issues (that I touch upon later in the review), but it makes up for it with plenty of novel ideas that are well executed. It took some time before it fully resonated with me but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it once it clicked.

I recommend [Saga of Tanya the Evil] if the premise and setting is something that interests you.

▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The protagonist Tanya is unusually well defined for an Isekai. Not a blank slate, and living up to the name of the manga; not a good person. An HR manager whose job it was to fire underperforming employees.

They hold strong beliefs about how the world should work. Many of those beliefs paint the protagonist as a psychopath. In particular those concerning the value of human life. It is these strongly held beliefs that causes the protagonist to be reborn as a girl in Germany, in a world at the cusp of war.

The story relies a lot on Tanya being misunderstood by those around them. Operating on an entirely different logic than those around her, she will express her distaste for conflict, yet be interpreted as a bloodthirsty warmongerer. The people around her will likewise express distain or disgust at Tanya's "love" of war, which Tanya in turn will misinterpret.

At first the manga did not resonate with me for taking place in a setting I am less interested in, following a character that is hard to like, and having a story that relies on misunderstandings at every turn.

However, once I realised that it is Tanya's messed up world view that is the catalyst for all the misunderstandings, it clicked with me. Tanya is a HR manager who sees humans as expendable resources. Their world view is so twisted that it is incompatible with the people around them. Tanya is so caught up in her world view, that she makes critical and dangerous mistakes that often propel her into further danger.

Perhaps I am giving the author too much credit, but it is almost like they are trying to demonstrate how a modern day libertarian with a world view shaped by the Chicago school of economics can, with a callous mind, create a horrific theatre of war. Worse than a nationalist with waning ideas of honour and chivalry could from the given time period.

In addition to the constant use of misunderstandings to further the story, I found that the story felt a bit rushed in places. There are two main storylines. That of the conflict between the protagonist and the god who sent him to this world, and that of the military campaigns of fantasy Germany vs fantasy The Allies.

The majority of chapters are dedicated to the latter, but sometimes crucial moments in the military campaign are glossed over. It sometimes felt like the author was so eager about the next story arc, that they rushed through the current one.

This manga is an adaptation of a novel, so it could be that this is the result of the adaptation into a manga, rather than a choice by the author.

Despite these shortcomings, the story is extremely gripping, there are a lot of parallels to real world history that I enjoyed spotting, and I even found myself rooting for the protagonist after a couple dozen chapters. Despite their dubious ethics.

▶Setting: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Saga of Tanya the evil] is set in an alternative universe Earth during World War II. Geographically identical to Earth, it features similar nations and political alliances. With one of the biggest difference being the existence of magic.

The author has amazing knowledge of the time period, and showcases it well with time appropriate knowledge, tactics and equipment. Though a lot of the equipment is ripped straight from our world. Such as the tanks used by Fantasy Germany being panzers identical to the ones used by real world Germany during the war.

The most significant difference between this fictional universe and our own, is of course Germany.

Nazi Germany in [Saga of Tanya the evil] is simply called "The Empire", and it does not (so far) commit any of tne atrocities that real world Germany did. While it is militaristic, it is not far right, and is portrayed as a bastion of equality in the manga.

It was probably a wise decision by the author that the protagonist is not fighting for actual nazis.

▶Characters: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the manga is how little character development the protagonist goes through. Despite all the troubles and misunderstandings that befalls the protagonist due to their strongly held beliefs, they never once question their faith. Much of the story is spent on Tanya interacting with other soldiers, yet they never influence her in any way.

As of the latest chapter (chapter 73 as of writing) Tanya has not seen any significant character development or changes in world view.

The protagonist is a soldier and is surrounded by her comrades. Surprisingly, the vast majority of the members of her group are faceless and nameless. Only a few have a name and face, and even fewer are given enough pages for the reader to get to know them. Something I think would have benefitted the manga a great deal.

Other notable figures in the story are fortunately given a lot more pages. Generals, politicians and the adversaries are well fleshed out.

▶Artwork: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The artwork is quite gorgeous. Chapter pages, and epic battles are very detailed, and the action scenes are spectacular, albeit sometimes a bit difficult to track. The artist also sometimes uses clever shortcuts, such as edited real life photographies as backgrounds, which fits very well with the style of the manga.

The characters are well designed, and fit the gritty setting well. The artist does an excellent job communicating emotions through extreme and exaggerated expressions on the character's faces.

It is in black and white, and not coloured. As is the norm with Manga from Japan

Youjo Senki, the "🤔" manga! I think this work as a whole is very good. I watched the anime and I'm eagerly awaiting its continuation. However, there's something that bothered me about the manga version. It's not something that's bad for the work as a whole, but the amount of explanations about concepts and war-related matters makes the reading more drawn-out than it should be. What I said before serves to show us readers how the protagonist thinks. HOWEVER, I think the way it was done in the manga is a bit off. Again, it's not horrible, but I think it could have been done better.This case with the manga, in my opinion, is the same as the case with the Hunter X Hunter manga, where in the 2011 anime, we have much more immersion in the universe thanks to the narrator. The same is true here. In the anime, this narration works very well in conjunction with the protagonist's thoughts.

Anyway, my rating of 6 is due to this problem. It may not happen again or it may improve in the future in the manga, but currently my rating is this. I think the manga is worth reading, but I can't help but think the anime is superior in every aspect. I recommend reading it and will read it someday.

=================================================================================================================Versão em Português=====================================

Youjo Senki, o mangá meio "🤔" !

Acho essa obra como um todo muito boa, assisti o anime e afirmo estar ansioso para a sua continuação, porem tem algo que me incomodou nessa sua versão mangá, não é algo que seja ruim para a obra como um todo porem esse tanto de explicações que tem sobre conceitos e coisas da guerra torna a leitura mais arrastada do que deveria ser. Isso que falei antes serve para mostrar para nós leitores como o/a protagonista pensa, POREM acho meio ruim a forma com que foi feita no mangá, repito, não é algo que seja horrível mas acho que poderia ser feito de um jeito melhor. Esse caso do mangá ao meu ver é o mesmo caso sobre o mangá de Hunter X Hunter onde no anime de 2011 temos muito mais imersão no universo por conta do narrador, o mesmo se repete aqui, no anime funciona muito bem essa narração em conjunto com o pensamento do/da prota.

De todo modo, minha nota 6 se deve por conta desse problema, pode ser que isso não se repita ou que melhore daqui pra frente no mangá porem atualmente minha nota é essa, acho que vale sim ler o mangá mas não consigo deixar de achar o anime superior em todos os quesitos. Recomendo a leitura e lerei em algum dia.